Canada Duck Hunt

yea. we want to bust ducks.

Have heard Saskatoon is the place to go.

We have been doing north central sask for a few yrs now, hunt both diy and w outfitter. We use a local outfitter who is a friend and does it part time. On a very good day its dark geese in morning, ducks and snows in afternoon w outfitter, 25+ birds a person a day not uncommon. If serious post email and i will send info on outfitter in area.
We go end of September early oct. Weather is nice then, generally dry. Amazing hunts plus some upland opportunity as well.

Yes, quite a few times. I would recommend taking a look at Goose Haven LINK

Taken clients, gone with friends, took my brother, and the hunting with them is fantastic. They are about 2 hours North of Saskatoon.

Typically fly in to Saskatoon and spend the night. They have a nice Cabelas in Saskatoon and the restaurants/bars are good. Get up the next morning and drive a rental to the town of Meadow Lake. Stayed at a local hotel (dump) the first time and the lodges (15 minutes for town) ever since.

Hunt canada geese in the morning in lay down blinds. Mostly hunting in rolling pea fields. Ducks in the afternoon in fields... dry as a bone. Lay down blinds for both. If older they have spring boards to help you sit up. They work with farmers in 50+0 mile radius so they go where the geese are feeding.

Give Lance a call. They stay pretty booked up.

Duck photos from an afternoon hunt but honestly all the afternoon hunts up in this area have been like this for 10 years.

Canada goose hunting is awesome also. Pull them in close but sometimes the wind up there is getting it at 25+. Just about always have a few snow type days with light flurries and not much sticking to the ground. You can see the mallards are not in full plumage in Sept/Oct. Kind of a dusky "greenish" brownish head.

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I would make it a priority to find an outfitter that will move with the birds. Finding one that has a lodge or whatever and hunts out of the lodge can be bad some years. Canada is huge and the birds do move around A LOT. They can be 60-100 miles away some years from others. So an outfitter out of so and so city may have a great year one year and the birds may not be there again next year. I know that's hunting and all, but there's outfitters that do move.

Canada is nothing like the USA as far as getting permission to hunt. As said there are few hunters and most of the land owners want the birds off their property. Its fairly easy to find a farmer that will let you hunt and then he will know the farmers around him and call around if you need to move.

When i said 25 birds a day that includes
8 dark geese, specks or canadas
8 ducks, limit on pintails is 5 per day, that will get some ppl excited
20 white geese, snows or ross'
In a good spot limits of dark geese and ducks are common and if u add in 10 or so snows per day its a lot of fun

Check out Ole Dog Outfitters in Alberta, one of there guides/owners films hunts up there, you can look him on youtube, name is Cole Townsend... they kill 'em. Also check out Ranchland Outfitters in Canada. They kill 'em good!

Yes, they were awesome. We are going back in September again. First class experience from lodging, to dining and especially hunting.

I go every year and DIY in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Here are my bullet point tips and observations:

1) September is best for specks. They leave by the beginning of Oct. That's about when Snows show up

2) Ducks don't have their full plumage until about the middle of October

3) We go in the neighborhood of Oct 15th to the 25th. Could go a touch later. Usually starts getting nasty sometime in the first week of Nov.

4) We ride around and knock on doors. Have about 80% success rate getting permission. If you bring the landowners filleted duck and goose breasts they will usually invite you back.

5) As an individual independent hunter you have better chances of getting permission than an outfitter. Some landowners let everyone hunt. Some let no one hunt (very few). And some let random people but not outfitters.

6) In Canada as a landowner you cannot take money to let people hunt. There are no hunting leases. It's against the law. The landowner is under no obligation to let anyone hunt. They can pick and choose who and when and under what circumstances. But they can't take money for the privilege of hunting.

7) I have collected a bunch of equipment up there. Decoys, waders, shell bags, blinds, even a shotgun. And I store it all in a farmer's barn. I have made some great friends and networks in one particular town where I am beginning to get to know people and hunt the same places every year.

8) I personally hunt about 35% in pot holes and sloughs. Most people up there would never consider hunting over water. It is just not a cultural thing. 99% of the hunting is done on dry fields. I am somewhat unique in that I like to do both.

9) Square hay bales make the best blinds. I rent a pickup and rent a trailer from a farmer. Then buy about 30 square bales and just ride around. Build a blind out of square bales and you can land them at your feet.

10) My spread is like 4 dozen mallards and 4 dozen dark geese. I am not a great goose hunter but that spread does well enough. Sometimes the geese just give you a passing look. Sometimes they decoy. Sometimes they go the other way. But we almost always end up with a goose limit. Ducks dive into the decoys. They're easy.

11) Limit is 8 ducks and 8 geese. You can take home 2x the possession limit of each. Must have one wing attached. My birds have never been checked. I freeze them and ship them back in soft coolers. They go through the customs belt and into the plane and then you go through customs without your bags. They ask if you have birds. Yes. You fill out a form. But your birds are already in the baggage department so it's all just a formality.

12) It is my favorite travel hunt of everything I have ever done. Not going with an outfitter is the key to me. Because you set your own pace. If you feel like hunting all day, you can. If you want to go in early, you do. If you want to get a 6 pack and just ride back roads looking for geese, you can do that too. I hate being restricted to a set schedule when I am on vacation. It defeats the purpose.

13) We do well on Hungarian Partridges too. Those little frickers are everywhere.

Happy to answer any questions.

Man you can totally do this yourself. You don't need a guide or even anyone who has ever done this before. Grab a buddy or just go yourself and start doing it. I think you'll get a lot of satisfaction out of that.